II Ambassador Extraordinary and Envoy Plenipotentiary
AFTER EDSA I, a small group under Raul Manglapus, who almost single-handedly carried the torch of the Christian Democrats during his exile abroad, made efforts to regroup remnants of the government. During President Corazon Aquino’s time, he was able to bring to Manila officials of the Christian Democrats International (CDI), which had its headquarters in Brussels. I recall a funny incident during the occasion of the CDI conference, which was held at the Manila Hotel. President Aquino was invited to open the conference at 9 o’clock. Fifteen minutes to nine the room was only partially full. Knowing how prompt the President always was, I quickly got Manila Hotel employees, including the waiters, to fill up the room to capacity to make the conference look better attended. Subsequently, the Center for Christian Democracy was organized. I was appointed president. It was in one of our meetings of the Center that Manglapus, then Secretary of 16
JVR book layout.indd 16
8/6/19 5:21 PM
